To improve the low precision for manufacturing and assembling the “small switches” as disclosed in the R.O.C. Patent Publication No. 517254 and the “lever switches” as disclosed in the U.S. Publication No. 2002/0148714, the inventor of this invention had filed a R.O.C. patent application entitled “Microswitch (II)”. Such patent application granted and published with Publication No. 562228 discloses an easy-to-assemble and easy-to-manufacture microswitch without changing the dimensions of existing products or requiring a complicated manufacturing process or a strict precision control.
The easy-to-assemble and easy-to-manufacture microswitch comprises a connecting section disposed between a first and a second conductive sections of a resilient component, a fixing section coupled to the resilient component and disposed in an accommodating groove of a press button at the position corresponding to the connecting section, so that the first conductive section of the resilient component is kept constantly in contact with a first contact section of the first conductive terminal extended into a chamber, and the second conductive section is moved downward by a corresponding pressing section on the press button to be in contact with a second conductive terminal as to extend the second conductive terminal to the second contact section of the chamber, and thus defining an easy-to-assemble microswitch. Although the microswitch according to this patent has solved the precision problem, it still cannot meet the strict requirements of the microswitch such as the distance required for the signal connection and the quick restoration of the press button after being released mainly due to the parallel arrangement of the first and second conductive terminals disposed in the chamber of the main body. Therefore, the distance required for signal connections is limited by the provided space. In addition, the distance between the first and second conductive sections of the resilient component is short, as shown in the drawings of the patent specification. Thus, the compression produced by the press button is limited, and the press button cannot quickly resume its original position after being released.
In view of the foregoing shortcomings, the inventor of the present inventor also filed and was granted with a “Microswitch (III)” with U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,904. Such patent discloses an easy-to-assemble and easy-to-manufacture microswitch, which constantly keeps a first connecting section of a resilient component for opening/closing an electric switch in contact with the first conductive terminal in the main body of the microswitch, and houses a plate-shaped second conductive section with a contact area inside the main body. The second conductive sections of the resilient component generate signals preset by the microswitch for an initial signal connection state to a final connection state by a displacement produced by pressing a press button on a contact area of the second conductive terminal in order to increase the distance required for controlling the signal connection and allow the resilient component to have an effective deformation and provide the best resilience of the press button.
However, the foregoing prior arts only can produce signal connections by applying a force from a vertical direction or only one side of a transversal direction. If a user chooses to apply a force from the other side of the transversal direction, the foregoing prior arts may reverse the installing direction, but if the existing electronic devices are necessary to produce signal connections by applying a force from a vertical direction or both sides of a transversal direction, the foregoing prior arts cannot meet such requirements.
The R.O.C. Pat. Nos. 492027 and 477995 disclosed a switch device that can produce signal connections by a force exerted from a vertical direction and both sides of a transversal direction. Since this type of switch is still designed by constantly keeping a conductive section at one end of the resilient component in contact with a conductive terminal and using a conductive section at the other end as a movable contact point and connecting an operating rod in the switch body to another conductive terminal, the design of this type of switch not only requires complicated components and laborious assembly, but also involves difficult controls on pressing and resuming process.